Governor Janet T. Mills (D) Following Her Address at Demo Day at The Roux Institute at Ocean Gateway This Afternoon.  The Roux Institute is a Division of Northeastern University.

CEO of CIRCA, Leslie Hyman, Announced That Southern Maine Will be the Location of its New Headquarters.

Members of the Inaugural Class to Complete The Roux Institute Entrepreneurship Program on the East End of Portland this Afternoon.  The Event was Held at Ocean Gateway, With a Reception  Following at The Nearby Roux Institute.

Ten entrepreneurs. each of whom completed a 13 week intensive course today at The Roux Institute. made pitches for their start-ups at Demo Day this afternoon. This class of entrepreneurs was the first to complete the course that began in September 2021 – an auspices   occasion that occurred on the east end of Portland.

The Roux Institute partnered with Techstars, a national company that grows high tech businesses to  attract investors and strengthen regional economies, to provide skills, mentors and other tools needed to insure the success of these risk takers.  This program is expected to give a much needed boost to Maine where technically skilled workers lag behind the employment  needs of science and technically oriented businesses – requiring them to hire from out-of-state.

The start-ups of the ten presenters were diverse – ranging from  a personal care company for the Black community to an on-line sports collection data company, a market research company to collection companies in the health care field.

CIRCA, a flexible payment program designed to reduce tension between landlords and tenants, announced its intention to establish its new headquarters in the greater Portland area according to CEO Leslie Hyman. Several other start-ups expressed interest in making Maine their corporate headquarters as well.

Hundeds of applications for this inaugural program were received according to Whit Richardson, Communicadtions and Media Manager for Techstars, who partnered with The Roux Institute. Participants selected came from Seattle on the west coast,  Boston on the east coast and in between.  ESKUAD, a field data collection start-up originated in Chile according to its CEO and founder Max Echeverie.   “It worked there and it’s working here as well,” Echeverie said.  This is a once a year program with the next 13-week session scheduled for a year from now.  Applications for that course have not yet been sought.

Governor Mills told this first class of entrepreneurs:  “You have worked hard to get to this point.  We are here to celebrate that accomplishment.  We hope that your future includes Maine.”  She said that last summer she read a book – “Jump Starting America” – on how to start a tech hub.  “I think we have it all here,” she told, a packed Ocean Gateway attentive audience.

“Northeastern University is doing to Portland what MIT and Harvard did to Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Some people love it and others are going to hate it,” said an anyonmous resident of Cambridge who attended the event at Ocean Gateway this afternoon.  “It depends on your point of view.”

The way too long two-hour program that should have been much shorter with fewer long speeches by Roux personnel was followed by a reception at The Roux Institute, 100 Fore Street.  Apparently everyone needed recognition for something or other.  After a hostile credential check by a young Roux staff member, mhn.com decided to avoid a possible repeat experience by not attending the reception.. Although this blogger has no criminal record, I certainly felt like a criminal following that credential check.

A Program with pertinent information on this auspices occasion would have been helpful for anyone not familiar with all the details.  The use of paper is still legal!  At 80 years of age, I hope I don’t live long enough to see the day when the use of paper is illegal, but I suspect it’s coming!